Hey, didn’t the GOP say it cared about deficits?

by Linda Beale

 Hey, didn’t the GOP say it cared about deficits?

Just when you think those on the radical right had gone about as far as they could go without recognizing their own zaniness, those in Congress have revived their version of a tax “reform” for businesses.  It was first proposed in 2009–as an alternative to real stimulus spending on infrastructure .  And yes, it is yet another tax cut.  An even zanier one than the rest that they’ve come up with while at the same time whining of deficits and suggesting that longstanding social programs like Social Security and Medicare must be cut back.
Eric Cantor, in a memo last month to fellow Republicans, announced that the House would be putting this proposal forward–let every business with 500 employees or fewer deduct off the top 20% of their income.  And they want to pass this rot by the filing deadline–on the pretense that it will help ordinary folk.
See Richard Rubin, Hedge Fund Tax Break May Come in Republican Small Business Plan, San Francisco Chronicle (Bloomberg News, Mar. 8, 2012).

Now, folks, there are some mighty BIG businesses with fewer than 500 employees.  Like just about every hedge fund and leveraged buyout fund. (The latter, of course, like to call themselves “private equity” these days–let’s people overlook the fact that they have destroyed many a stable, profitable business by loading them up with debt and sucking out all the cash while firing employees or making the business focus on paying back the debt and not on doing business).  Why would the GOP want to reward those funds with even more tax breaks than they already grab for themselves–carried interest, pass-through taxation, and the ability to avoid the payroll taxes since they treat their compensation as though it were an investment gain?  Because that is what they are all about–making sure the richest people in the country get all the breaks.

Then there are sports teams.  Liquor stores.  Golf courses. Gambling dens….. Hotels. Restaurants.  Engineering firms. Accounting firms.  Law firms.  Architectural firms.  Big Business that normally make Big Money.
Just goes to show that the corporatist GOP never saw a tax break for the monied class that it didn’t like.

crossposted with ataxingmatter